What a Time Entry Actually Contains
The fields that make a time record defensible, the ones products omit, and why the difference only becomes visible in a dispute.
Explainer
Step 03
The data model
The fields that decide disputes are the ones nobody looks at until there is one. Plus the three time cases that break products and are entirely predictable.
6 notes
Time Zones, Midnight and Daylight Saving
The three cases that break timesheet systems, all of them predictable, and all of them discovered in production.
Analysis
Storing Rounded Time
Rounding applied at capture destroys information permanently. Where in the pipeline it belongs, and how to test that the product does it there.
Procedure
Identifiers and Reference Data
People change names, projects get renumbered, cost centres are reorganised. What the timesheet system should key on, and what breaks when it keys on the wrong thing.
Analysis
Where the Data Lives
Hosted, private or self-managed, and why the processing location matters more in this category than the deployment model.
Reference
Retention and Deletion
Statutory periods vary by jurisdiction and by data category. One global setting is a policy that has not been thought about.
Procedure